- Posting Speed
- 1-3 posts per day
- One post per day
- 1-3 posts per week
- Writing Levels
- Adept
- Advanced
- Preferred Character Gender
- Male
- Primarily Prefer Female
- Genres
- Fantasy (high, low and anything in between), modern, medieval, anything that'll keep me at the edge of my seat. Romance is absolutely necessary. And fluff. Just a lil bit.
It was, by all accounts, an extremely troubling night. Everything seemed to still. The low hum of the wind rustled the leaves of the oak trees, the woodland creatures crept faintly about their respective dwellings, and Persephone stared out into the village, feet planted firmly at the border of her doorstep. She breathed in the cool air and closed her eyes, a mostly futile attempt to calm her nerves. It was the night before the wedding—her wedding. The whole village was already fast asleep to prepare for the day of festivities ahead, and all of the animals had been taken inside so as to not damage any of the ceremonial adornments. No one was there to stop her. If there were ever a time to run, it would be now.
The dismal little village was nestled between a dense woody forest and a stony creek, miles away from any other main towns. The houses each furnished oil lamps atop their entrances, alongside sprigs of thyme and garlic that hung from their door handles with colorful string, a relic of ancient spirit-warding custom. A stone path connected the each of the dwellings with the communal grounds and wheat fields, all of which stopped just short of the thicket. There, a gnarled wooden fence separated the people from the sprawling forest and all of the creatures that resided within it.
The young woman shut the door behind her and padded softly away from where she stood towards the edge of the village, armed with only a backpack, a lantern, and her wit. She climbed swiftly over the fence, careful to avoid patches of splintered wood; the movement was almost second nature to her. With only a brief pause as her feet found the ground beneath her, she took off into the woods, her heart racing, ears ringing, and a deafening voice in the back of her mind telling her that it wasn't too late to head back inside.
Since she had decided to escape in the dead of the night, Persephone only had the light from her lantern to illuminate her path. She had studied the night sky prior to leaving, which accompanied with her compass and vague knowledge of celestial navigation, gave her a rough idea of where to start. Once she entered the forest, the trees obscured the sky far too much for her to reliably make out any stars, so she wouldn't be able to rely on that method of navigation again until she reached a clearing. She did, however, have a map that laid out various towns and cities surrounding her village, which she had ripped from the pages of an old atlas and studied furiously.
However, no amount of studying nor planning could have possibly prepared her for the actual passage through the dense woods. Save from the soft glow of her lantern, the entire forest was near pitch black, the only other thing illuminating it being shards of moonlight that passed through crevices of the leaves. She had to rely on her ears just as much as she did her eyes. Every crackle of a branch, rustle of the leaves, every howl, whine and murmur could've easily been the sound of a sluagh or faerie or any manner of nighttime hunting creature, and she froze each time she heard something out of the ordinary. The night was cold, her legs were becoming weary, and her mind was swarming with what could be lurking behind the next branch.
A few more hours into the journey, and she could hardly distinguish left from right. Her map proved to be of no help—the only thing it could tell her was the cardinal direction and distance from one village to the next, but she had no reliable way of telling where she was in relation to the map. There were no landmarks in the middle of the forest, nothing to tell her where to go, or where it was safe to be. There were only trees, the moss, the occasional nocturnal animal, and even more trees. She hadn't come across a single river, lake, or clearing since she had began walking, and she was beginning to think she never would,
Persephone stopped, and took a deep breath. She was starting to feel lightheaded. Perhaps it would be good to rest for a moment, have something small to eat and drink, and then continue. But the moment she found a tree to sit beneath, her knees buckled, and she fell backwards, hitting her head on the bark of the trunk. Her unconscious body collapsed at the foot of the tree, her bag still nestled in one of her arms with the lantern knocked a little ways away from her.
The dismal little village was nestled between a dense woody forest and a stony creek, miles away from any other main towns. The houses each furnished oil lamps atop their entrances, alongside sprigs of thyme and garlic that hung from their door handles with colorful string, a relic of ancient spirit-warding custom. A stone path connected the each of the dwellings with the communal grounds and wheat fields, all of which stopped just short of the thicket. There, a gnarled wooden fence separated the people from the sprawling forest and all of the creatures that resided within it.
The young woman shut the door behind her and padded softly away from where she stood towards the edge of the village, armed with only a backpack, a lantern, and her wit. She climbed swiftly over the fence, careful to avoid patches of splintered wood; the movement was almost second nature to her. With only a brief pause as her feet found the ground beneath her, she took off into the woods, her heart racing, ears ringing, and a deafening voice in the back of her mind telling her that it wasn't too late to head back inside.
Since she had decided to escape in the dead of the night, Persephone only had the light from her lantern to illuminate her path. She had studied the night sky prior to leaving, which accompanied with her compass and vague knowledge of celestial navigation, gave her a rough idea of where to start. Once she entered the forest, the trees obscured the sky far too much for her to reliably make out any stars, so she wouldn't be able to rely on that method of navigation again until she reached a clearing. She did, however, have a map that laid out various towns and cities surrounding her village, which she had ripped from the pages of an old atlas and studied furiously.
However, no amount of studying nor planning could have possibly prepared her for the actual passage through the dense woods. Save from the soft glow of her lantern, the entire forest was near pitch black, the only other thing illuminating it being shards of moonlight that passed through crevices of the leaves. She had to rely on her ears just as much as she did her eyes. Every crackle of a branch, rustle of the leaves, every howl, whine and murmur could've easily been the sound of a sluagh or faerie or any manner of nighttime hunting creature, and she froze each time she heard something out of the ordinary. The night was cold, her legs were becoming weary, and her mind was swarming with what could be lurking behind the next branch.
A few more hours into the journey, and she could hardly distinguish left from right. Her map proved to be of no help—the only thing it could tell her was the cardinal direction and distance from one village to the next, but she had no reliable way of telling where she was in relation to the map. There were no landmarks in the middle of the forest, nothing to tell her where to go, or where it was safe to be. There were only trees, the moss, the occasional nocturnal animal, and even more trees. She hadn't come across a single river, lake, or clearing since she had began walking, and she was beginning to think she never would,
Persephone stopped, and took a deep breath. She was starting to feel lightheaded. Perhaps it would be good to rest for a moment, have something small to eat and drink, and then continue. But the moment she found a tree to sit beneath, her knees buckled, and she fell backwards, hitting her head on the bark of the trunk. Her unconscious body collapsed at the foot of the tree, her bag still nestled in one of her arms with the lantern knocked a little ways away from her.